Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Cost Effective Knitting




Early on in my knitting career I learned to think not just about the price per skein but also the price per yard. A $20 skein with 350 yards is a better deal than a $10 skein with just 90 yards, for instance. Now I have another way to measure cost - the price per project.

In shopping recently for yarn for a baby hat for my new niece, I found four irrisistable colors in a yarn that wasn't so cheap. I was looking at a price tag of $40 for one hat! But after I finished with that one, I kept on knitting (it was too big and ended up being snapped up by the 3yo anyway) and made two more plus a doll. She is based on the pattern in the Weekend Knitting book, which I highly recommend. She is knit in pieces and then sewn up. After botching the seams badly, I am thinking and thinking about how to make her in the round.
The hats are based on a combination of patterns.
Both of the little hats are made with 72 stitches knit in the round. On the ruffled edge, I cast on 144 stitches, knit one round and k2tog around to get the ruffle. I then did a single stitch rib for 4 rounds. I had hoped that would bring in the hat a little to make it fit tighter and stay on better. I'm not sure if it worked out, but it looks okay. I didn't realize that ribbing stands out from stockinette stitch. I thought it would pull it in and make that part of the hat tighter.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto - it's a superwash merino. It is a dream to knit with. That's part of the reason I made so many things - I just couldn't stop. It's soft and springy. It is, however, very splitty. It's not the sort of yarn that holds up well to being frogged multiple times (unfortunatley, I know this from personal experience).
Now that I am all done, DSIL has requested a white crocheted hat with a crocheted flower for the baby girl. That's fine - I don't mind having another project. But, I realized that as I have been organizing and sending unused items off to bless others that I blessed her with all my crochet books! Silly me. Thankfully there are so many patterns available on line.

5 comments:

Holly Jo said...

The color choices are GREAT. Isn't it funny how we forget about leftovers and what we can do with them? The doll is adorable.

Dorothy said...

The hats are beautiful, and the doll is TOO adorable! Don't you love when you get multiple projects out of yarn???

Anonymous said...

Very pretty and lovely colors!

Unknown said...

Those are both beautiful! I love using up scraps too!

Anonymous said...

I want that doll pattern! Yo mama